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Wedding Planner: Sunshine Weddings Spain | Our wedding planner was Sunshine Weddings. They made our big day run smoothly from beginning to end. Great help picking out vendors and assisting us throughout the wedding planning process.
Officiant: Máire Máirtín (Laura’s godmother)
Hair and Makeup Stylist: Lucy Pardoe
Bridal Gown: Catherine Deane gown from The Attic in Limerick with personalised sleeves and alterations by Olga Tensberg
Grooms Suit: Charles Tyrwhitt and Marks & Spencers
Bridesmaids Dresses: JJ’s House
WHERE ARE YOU FROM
Laura is from Portmarnock, Dublin and Conor is from Derry City Ireland
THE VENUE
Our venue was so picturesque and secluded. We really wanted something that would just be us and the wedding party and backdrop was absolutely stunning. Laura’s family have ties to Fuengirola and it is somewhere that has become very special to Conor too so we wanted somewhere near there as well.
THE DRESS
Found the dress pretty much straight away but from a boutique that was shutting down and didn’t have any left in stock. The only other place selling Catherine Deane in Ireland was The Attic in Limerick which is pretty far from Dublin but I really liked the dress so headed down there with my mom and sister. Mary and Orlaith in The Attic were so helpful and helped me figure out the additional little detail of the bardot sleeves which Olga was able to create and add to make my dream dress.
HOW YOU MET
We met on Tinder in April 2017 but didn’t officially meet in person until 5th of July in the Temple Bar bar in Temple Bar in Dublin. We hit it off straight away, even though we couldn’t fully understand everything the other said because of our different accents. After our second date, where we essentially had 5 dates rolled into the 1 day, we both knew this was it and the rest is history.
FIRST LOOK
I did a first look with my dad coming down the stairs in the bridal suite and I saw my dad being really happy, but my sister swears he looked like he was about to cry! I also did a little first look with my two brothers as we are close knit family and I loved just having a few minutes to ourselves before the ceremony.
PROPOSAL
After Conor had recovered from his radiation treatment, we planned a little trip away to County Donegal to celebrate and our second day away we went to our favourite beach up there, St. Catherine’s Beach. Conor completely surprised Laura by going down on one knee on a little private beach there and asking her to marry him. Laura was so stunned by how big the diamond was, she forgot to say yes and immediately grabbed the ring to try on. She eventually said yes…
THE AISLE
I was so excited to see Conor, just absolutely buzzed. It was definitely the highlight of my day seeing Conor there at the top of the aisle.
TRADITIONS
We had the Irish traditions mentioned above. The most other traditional thing we had was ‘you may now kiss the bride’. We had written the statement of intent and short vows ourselves. I borrowed my bridesmaid, Catriona’s veil for the day which was really special as another one of our friends also wore it on her wedding day – kind of like the sisterhood of the travelling pants!
THE KISS
Conor says ‘sweaty’ but honestly neither of us can remember. I do remember on several occasions Conor giving out to me because he kept kissing my teeth because I was so happy I couldn’t stop smiling! ALSO, just remembered Conor kissed me when my parents handed me over which he wasn’t supposed to do but I couldn’t deny him!
UNIQUE TOUCHES
Laura’s godmother acted as the celebrant, which made the ceremony so special and personalised. We also had some Irish traditions incorporated with ring warming and hand fastening. Conor had a little pin called the drop of Derry so he carried Derry with him on the day. Instead of using people’s names for the place settings, we used nicknames for each of our guests, which provided good conversation starters and lots of laughs. Instead of doing a reading, Laura’s mom did her own little speech during the ceremony, again adding to how personal the ceremony was. Laura had both her parents walk her down the aisle instead of just her dad.
RECEPTION TOUCHES
We had ‘Welcome to the Wedding of ….’ signs and the table plan with people’s nicknames. We had an orange theme for signs, menus, place names etc., as we always associate this area with oranges. Laura’s phone case also matched the theme. My aunt, Catherine, hand wrote all the place names in calligraphy. Laura’s mum had woven wool that she had used to make each of them jumpers/cardigans into a rope for the hand fastening. The cutting of the cake was very funny as we were both very bad at it! Loved the saxophone player as well, people are still talking about Demian!
FLOWERS AND DECOR
Shona from Bunches did the flowers, the flower arch and table arrangements with a bit of help from Cristina from Sunshine Weddings. It was absolutely stunning and matched our theme. Fiesta Sol did the rest! We loved how it all looked!
SUNSET
I had so much fun with the getting ready photos and getting hyped with my bridesmaids for the big walk down the aisle. Also we both really loved the sunset photos as we got a bit time to ourselves then too.
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